Why Are Video Poker Pros Allowed to Compete in Drawings?

A professional video poker player won a $5,000 drawing at my local casino. It’s so unfair that the professionals are allowed to compete with the regular players. Don't these people who make their living in the casino have an unfair advantage over the rest of us?

[Editor's Note: For this answer, we went directly to a professional video poker player. We're not identifying him, but from his distinctive voice, broad perspective, deep insight, and vast experience, plus the reference to $1 million, some of you can probably figure out who he is.]

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a professional player who has won considerably more than $1 million by collecting money in several hundred casino drawings over the last 30 years. There were some automobiles and other goodies in that mix as well. This, obviously, affects my perspective in this matter.

Casinos don't hold drawings for the benefit of players. They hold the drawings for the benefit of the casinos. The strategy of such a casino is to generate more revenue from players trying to win the drawings than they pay out in the drawing itself.

Each casino creates its own rules. Some are based on coin-in. Period. This benefits bigger players, professional or not. A player pounding $25 machines will generate considerably more tickets than a nickel player. While casinos feed you the hogwash that it takes only one ticket to win and technically that’s accurate, I like the chances of a player with 50,000 tickets in the drum more than the player with three.

Some casinos limit each player to 100 (or any other number) tickets per day. Some casinos give everyone 50 tickets a day just for showing up and swiping their card. Some casinos give slot players more tickets per dollar coin-in than they give video poker players. Some give fewer drawing tickets on loose machines than they do on tight machines. Each of these rules has the effect of leveling the playing field a bit.

Some casinos offer multiple tickets on Tuesdays. Or between midnight and 6 a.m. Sometimes on the same day as multiple points. Sometimes on different days. Sometimes various machines “overpay” tickets. Some casinos allow you to earn tickets for three different drawings simultaneously -- perhaps a senior drawing, a weekly drawing on Friday, and a monthly drawing on the last Saturday of the month.

Some casinos have a “must be there to win” policy. Some give you until midnight to collect. Some notify you by phone if you won. These policies affect how many casino drawings you can compete in simultaneously.

Some casinos restrict players who have won too many drawings or too much in too many drawings. (Smart players back off for a while after they win. They might resume competing in six months or so.)

Each marketing department creates its own rules and they can come up with an infinity of them. Each casino tends to keep the same basic rules month to month after getting burned when they first created the rules. With numerous exceptions, marketing people tend to be right brained and the best players tend to be left brained and when it comes to winning in casinos, a left-brain perspective is more profitable.

Each player needs to decide which drawings, if any, to enter. If you’re an hour-a-week nickel player, you’re basically wasting your time trying to win any drawing. Yes, you can occasionally win, but you’re going to have to show up and lose dozens and possibly hundreds of times between your wins. How much is your time worth? How many times are you willing to lose and keep coming back?

Bigger players, professional and otherwise, have their own choices to make. Does this set of rules favor players like you? Can you take advantage of the multiple-ticket-earning periods? Have you won there recently enough that staying away another month or three might make sense? Many of the answers to these questions are “best guesses.” Experienced players learn to guess better.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

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Kevin Lewis Dec-02-2022

The question wasn't answered

The question of what's fair and what isn't is subjective, but it's obvious that the casinos don't offer these drawings to attract VP pros. Objectively, there's nothing unfair about higher-volume players earning more drawing tickets. The casinos would do best to give even the nickel player a fighting chance to win drawings.

[email protected] Dec-02-2022

Unfair?

What would be unfair is for the casinos to ban any players from the drawings.  Anyone who played on their machines and earned tickets to the drawing has a right to participate.  Banning anyone from the drawing, unless they actually cheated in some way, would be grossly unfair.

Lotel Dec-02-2022

Pro players killed gambling

Advantage players and pro player  are the blame for all the bad pay tables on VP and bad rules on black jack and also the  bad comps and deals from casinos.  they ruined it for the average Guy or gal just playing the game for fun occasionally. they now have little to no chance to win.  These  pro players are not beating the money out of the casinos they are beating the money  out of the Average player  having fun at a casino. is it fair or unfair  . Yes .  But don't blame casinos they have a business to run.

rokgpsman Dec-02-2022

Life's not fair, especially in LV

As mentioned in the QoD answer the casino could be fair to all players by limiting the max number of tickets you could have in the drawing to some reasonable low number like 100 or 500 tickets max. That would give the average recreational player a bigger chance and still allow the pros to play too if they wanted. Some casino players clubs do try to cultivate loyalty and goodwill to their non-pro customers by having more favorable drawing rules, particulary at the off-Strip locals places. It all depends on whether the casino sees the drawing as a fun event for their average low-roller bread-n-butter customer, or the drawing is meant to be an earnings profit event with big players spending lots to get as many tickets as possible. On a free for all like that the casino takes in more from player losses than they award in prizes (which is the goal), and the little guy has almost no chance of winning.

O2bnVegas Dec-02-2022

done with them

I don't begrudge high players for the number of tickets they earn to be put in the drawing, versus my few pity tickets. But I've come to strongly believe events are fixed in favor of the casinos' favorite/preferred players, which of course is saying the same thing...high players/preferred players, friends of the boss...  Why bother if you aren't in one of those categories?

Has anyone but me noticed the changes in how 'your' machine number is 'drawn'?  Decades ago you actually yourself pulled a 'ball' out of the bowl, something like that, each round.  Now machine numbers are electronically assigned.  Duh.  

But, each to his own, and sometimes it is worth doing just to break up the monotony, time away from losing money, etc.  If no or low entry fee.

I really appreciate Bob's (oops...whomever's) thorough answer about drawings.

Candy

Gregory Dec-02-2022

advantage players

A few years back, I looked at the rules for the Young at Heart drawings that Boyd used to have.  In the rules it stated that "advantage players" were ineligible to participate in the promotion. It was also at the "sole and absolute" discretion of Boyd management as to how they made those decisions. Are all professional gamblers "advangage players"?  How does one determine a professional gambler?  Are YouTuber content makers professional gamblers?

Patricia Dec-02-2022

No Deals

Will Las Vegas ever return to offering deals/discounts
LVA has a nice booklet Yet everything else is sky high. 
Headliners charge way beyond what a middle class person
A nice meal couple hundred I travel with my son who has diamond status 
With Caesars So that’s been good 
     So Thank You LVA for what you do Yet sure would like
Other venues to follow like Groupon  
Can affords

Dave_Miller_DJTB Dec-02-2022

Kevin hit the nail on the head.

For once, I totally, and I mean TOTALLY, agree with what Kevin Lewis has said.

Unfortunately, there’s little casinos can do to filter out the pro players, and design a contest only for the profitable low rollers.

Roy Furukawa Dec-02-2022

True

It is just fact the bigger players have a lot more chances to win in drawings than the little guys, so as a little guy I enter things like that without expectation other than to have fun. If lightning strikes, I won't complain. I've played in slot tournaments and that's a lot more fun and it is a level playing field in that it's randomly selected machines. No one has an advantage other than whatever experienced tournament players have in pressing the button over a novice, which is not much of an advantage at all.

Question of the Day - 02 December 2022

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